


Reflections of the Heart: a Humanity Story COMPLETED

by Michael_Demos



Category: Les Schtroumpfs | The Smurfs
Genre: M/M, Version M Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-21 07:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21295688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michael_Demos/pseuds/Michael_Demos
Summary: Humble and Vanity are playing a game of hide-and-seek with the rest of the Smurfs when Humble is captured. Vanity finds out how he really feels about Humble.
Relationships: Humble Smurf/Vanity Smurf
Kudos: 1





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> Version M, per usual.

Humble glared at the wizard. “Let me out, Gargamel,” he said. “You’ll never be able to win anyway, you know.” He flinched as Gargamel brought his ugly face close to the cage.

“Never, you say? I caught you, didn’t I?” Gargamel cackled with evil glee. “Never say never!!”

At an indignant meow from his cat Azrael, Gargamel rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine,  _ you _ caught the Smurf- but it’s  _ my _ cage!”

Humble looked down at the yellow flower clutched in his hand, the last thing Vanity had given him, just before the game of hide-and-seek- just before he was captured. He’d protested, saying that the flower-in-the-hat image suited Vanity much more, but in the end, he couldn’t say no. Not to that face.

Sure, they were essentially twins- Humble had been just Vanity’s reflection until a freak storm brought him out- but they were polar opposites. Humble felt that his beauty was on the inside, that he was just an ordinary Smurf- more or less. Vanity felt that he was the best-looking, the handsomest, the smurfiest of all.

But Humble, even though they looked exactly alike, didn’t feel about himself the same way he felt about Vanity. He felt the corners of his mouth turn up as he thought about it.

“Hey!! What are you smiling about?!”

Humble bit back a yelp as Gargamel grabbed the cage and shook it. He slammed into the bars, nearly losing his grip on the yellow flower, and quickly shoved it under his hat. Unfortunately, Gargamel noticed.

“What are you hiding? Give it to me!!”

The wizard slammed the cage down on the table, earning a cry from Humble. The Smurf scrambled backwards, away from the wizard. “Stay away from me,” he told Gargamel. “Get away!”

Gargamel stood back, surveying his captive. “Hmm, what am I going to do with you?” He asked. “I can’t turn you into gold, there’s only one of you. I won’t feed you to Azrael- at least not yet- because then  _ I _ won’t get any dinner. Although… there is another way…”

Humble didn’t like the way the wizard was looking at him.

* * *

Back at the village, the Smurfs were returning from the hide-and-seek game. “Has anybody seen Humble?!” Vanity was trying not to panic. It was a game of hide-and-seek, after all; a lot of Smurfs took a while to come back afterwards. Granted, those Smurfs usually included Lazy, Scaredy, Brainy, and Flighty, but it wasn’t unheard of for even Hefty to come back late.

“I think he’s still hiding,” Smurfette offered. “He probably didn’t hear Harmony’s announcement. Do you want me to help you look for him?”

“Would you really?” Vanity was grateful. “Thank you, Smurfette, you’re too kind.”

The two managed to gather a team of searchers, including Hefty, Clumsy, Gutsy, and Handy. They searched the forest, and eventually all of them began to get worried.

“We should have found him by now,” Hefty said to Handy.

“I know,” Handy answered, “it’s unusual to not find the hiders for this long. Even Ninja or Wild would be found by now.”

“Gosh, I hope nothing’s happened to him,” Clumsy said nervously.

“Don’t worry, lad,” Gutsy said, coming up and placing a comforting hand on the younger Smurf’s shoulder. “We’ll find him, you’ll see.” He glanced at Vanity, smiling. “I’m sure of it.”

“Guys!!” Smurfette’s voice was filled with shock and urgency. As they all rushed over to where she was standing at the base of a bramble bush, she turned to face them. Her face was pale as she held something out- a tuft of orange fur.


	2. Rescue Party

“There!” Gargamel chuckled to himself as he pulled the rope tightly around Humble. He placed the tied-up Smurf on the table, in the middle of several mousetraps arranged in a wide circle.

“This’ll never work, Gargamel,” Humble told the wizard. “It never works. You always lose.”

Gargamel snarled. “I won’t lose this time!! I’ve placed so many traps that your little friends won’t be able to avoid them!” He turned and grabbed a short knife from the shelf. “This is just in case any  _ do  _ manage to get past. They won’t dare try anything with this at your scrawny neck!”

Humble swallowed hard. He wasn’t too afraid- he was sure he’d be rescued soon- but that knife  _ did _ look awfully sharp.

* * *

Vanity clenched his fists, following Hefty and Gutsy as the search-turned-rescue party made their way to Gargamel’s hovel. He wasn’t normally a Smurf with a temper, but there was something about Humble. Vanity didn’t want to lose him.

No, it was more than that. He didn’t want to lose any of his friends and family, even if they did get on his nerves sometimes, but with Humble it was different.

It had started out as a convenience- Vanity didn’t have to carry his mirror everywhere whenever he wanted to look at himself, because his reflection was right there in front of him- but as time went on, he came to realize that Humble wasn’t just a reflection of Vanity. He was an entirely different Smurf, with his own personality, his own interests. They’d grown close, and Vanity was starting to suspect that Humble might be the smurfier one. The strange thing was, though, that he didn’t mind.

Now he could lose the one Smurf who really meant everything to him. His mind filled with rage at the thought of what Gargamel might be doing to Humble right now, if Azrael hadn’t already-

“I’m sure he’s okay, Vanity,” Smurfette said, breaking into his thoughts. “We’ll rescue him before anything bad happens to him.”

Vanity gave her a weak smile. He certainly hoped so- and not because all of this was giving him stress wrinkles. He was sure it was, and he’d do a facial when they all returned, but right now Humble was more important.

When they reached Gargamel’s hovel, Hefty stayed with the group while Gutsy went up to the windowsill to scout ahead. Vanity couldn’t sit still, and instead paced worriedly, watching the window from the safety of the forest. He was nearly ready to go over there himself when Gutsy appeared. The kilt-wearing Smurf ran up, skidding to a halt with a grin. “Found him!”

Vanity swept Gutsy into a hug. “Oh, thank Smurfness!” He released him and asked, “how is he? Is he okay? That awful wizard hasn’t-“

Gutsy shushed him. “No, he’s fine, for the most part-“

“For the most part?!”

“-but Gargamel has him tied up in the middle of a field o’ mousetraps,” Gutsy finished. “He was sitting beside the table with a knife- he didn’t see me.”

Clumsy thought. “Hey, maybe we could sneak up behind him?”

Smurfette nodded. “That’s a good idea, Clumsy, but I don’t think it’ll work without a distraction.”

“Besides,” Hefty added, “we don’t know where Azrael or Monty are.”

Handy spoke up from behind them, his voice a bit shaky, but filled with forced calm. “Smurfs? I think I know where Azrael is.”

They all turned around, and Smufette gasped. Standing there stock-still was Handy, gazing up at the orange she-cat. The cat was obviously wondering why her prey wasn’t running away, but enjoyed the effect she was having on the Smurf nonetheless. She purred as she swiped playfully at Handy, who was too afraid to move.

Hefty didn’t think that Azrael was going to try to eat them right away, so he inched closer to Handy. The moment he got too close, though, Azrael hissed, baring her teeth at the Smurfs. She swiped again at Handy, this time with her claws out, and Hefty lunged forward, grabbing Handy’s arm and yanking him backwards. Handy hit the ground with an “oof,” snapping out of his paralysis, and scrambled backwards, barely avoiding the sharp claws.

“Run,” Gutsy told them. “Hefty and I can handle this wee lioness, you go get Humble!” Vanity didn’t need to be told twice. He was already running towards the hovel, Smurfette, Clumsy, and Handy following close behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Humble had been subtly struggling against the ropes for a while now, and he thought they’d gotten a bit looser. He’d considered making a run for it, as Gargamel had only bound his arms to his sides, but there wasn’t a lot of room between the mousetraps to maneuver, and he was afraid he might set them off if he stumbled. With his arms free, however, it would be easier to keep his balance.

Humble glanced over at Gargamel. It looked like he’d gotten bored, and fallen asleep- good. The Smurf doubled his efforts to get free. The ropes were definitely loosening, and he’d almost gotten them to the point where he could slip out when he heard a noise at the window behind the wizard. He glanced up, and couldn’t conceal a wide grin. “Vanity!!”

Not just Vanity, but Smurfette and Handy, and Clumsy, too. Humble shushed them as Clumsy began to cheer, glancing at Gargamel. “He’s asleep,” he told them as they climbed onto the table.

Vanity began making his way through the dangerous area towards Humble, Smurfette, Clumsy and Handy close behind. When he reached the Smurf, he yanked off the rest of the ropes, then pulled him into a hug. When Vanity finally pulled back, he looked like he was fighting back tears. “Do you know how worried I’ve been?! I’m getting wrinkles! Bags under my eyes!! Worry lines!!! Don’t you _ ever _ scare me like that again, Humble Smurf, _ do you hear me?!” _ Then he pulled Humble into another hug. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” Vanity sighed. “Yes, _ Papa _,” mumbled Humble with amusement, his words muffled by Vanity’s chest. He closed his eyes, almost forgetting where they were. This was nice.

“Guys, look out!!”

Humble’s eyes snapped open. The Smurfs scattered, and he dove to the side, pulling Vanity down as well. They barely dodged Gargamel’s hand. The wizard had woken up, and wasn’t happy.

“Get back here!!” Gargamel swiped at Vanity and Humble, who were forced to roll aside, narrowly avoiding setting off a mousetrap. Vanity pulled Humble to his feet, grabbing his hand and running between the small spaces between the mousetraps. A few times, Humble stumbled, but Vanity quickly pulled him upright again before he could set off a trap. Gargamel tried several times to grab them, but kept hitting the mousetraps.

Then, Gargamel got an idea. He withdrew, gripping the edge of the table, and just as the Smurfs regrouped, hurled the table upwards. Everything on the table went flying.

Handy and Smurfette were lucky enough to land on the bookshelf, but Clumsy, Vanity, and Humble tumbled onto the floor, along with all of the mousetraps, which immediately snapped shut. Humble was still holding Vanity’s hand, and grabbed Clumsy’s as well, running to dodge the dangerous projectiles.

Suddenly, Humble heard a shriek, and Vanity’s hand was ripped out of his. He looked back, and pushed Clumsy behind him with a gasp. “Vanity!!”

The beautiful Smurf was currently twisting and turning in the grip of the evil wizard, who was sniggering with triumph. He bent down and snatched up the knife from where it had fallen. Pointing it at the Smurfs, he said happily, “look at that! My trap worked! I have you to thank for this, you know,” he said, addressing Vanity. “You- the handsome one- you’re no good for anything else but bait!!”

Humble decided he’d had enough. He stepped forward. “You’ve got the wrong Smurf, Gargamel!!”

Gargamel looked down at Humble- who had just pinned the yellow flower back into his hat- then back at Vanity. He looked confused. “There’s… two of you?”

“Wrong again,” Humble said. He was hoping to trick the wizard. “I created him! He’s not a real Smurf, so he means nothing to me- or you!” Humble fought to ignore the noise of disbelief from Vanity.

There was a tense silence, in which Gargamel stared very hard at Humble, trying to determine if he was lying or not. The thing in his hands certainly _ looked _ like a real Smurf; then again, so had the Smurfette. “How can I be sure you’re telling the truth?” He said eventually, narrowing his eyes at Humble.

Humble met Vanity’s eyes. Vanity looked scared- understandable- but Humble could see the trust there, too. He looked away. “If you don’t believe me… destroy him. _Right now_.”


	4. Chapter 4

Humble heard Clumsy’s gasp from behind him, but ignored it. As Handy and Smurfette joined them on the floor, Handy gave Humble a disbelieving glare. “You’re telling Gargamel to destroy a Smurf? Have you smurfed your mind?!”

“Quiet, you,” the wizard barked. “You know, I actually think he’s telling the truth.” He sneered at Vanity, then placed the blade of the knife at the Smurf’s neck.

Humble stared Gargamel right in the eyes, straining to keep his gaze steady and expression hard. If he messed up now… no, he wouldn’t think about that.

Vanity was keeping very still, in an effort to not touch the blade. He couldn’t believe that Humble would do that. Nobody would just betray their friends like that! As the wizard holding him paused, eyeing Humble suspiciously, he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slowly, so he wouldn’t alert Gargamel, he looked. To his delight he spotted Hefty and Gutsy, climbing up onto the windowsill. They both had a few scratches, but seemed fine otherwise.

“I knew it,” Gargamel screeched, “you’re bluffing!!” Vanity looked back. It seemed that the wizard and Smurf had held a sort of stare-down, and Humble had eventually caved.

“I’m not,” Humble tried to protest, but Gargamel cut him off.

“If you’re not bluffing, then I _will_ destroy him!” The wizard drew the knife back, and prepared to end Vanity’s life. Vanity closed his eyes tightly as the blade swung towards him. _I didn’t even get to tell anyone goodbye,_ he thought miserably.

_“Wait!!”_

Vanity opened one eye, peeking at the scene around him. Humble was indeed bluffing. Gargamel had stopped the knife not a tail-length away from Vanity, and was laughing his head off. “I knew it!!” He removed the knife, using the back of his hand to wipe away tears of mirth. “You can’t lie to me, Smurf! I bet he is a real Smurf! So what does that make you- clay? Wood? A fairy?!”

Humble looked down. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, sounding defeated. “You win. Just… just let him go.”

Behind him, he could hear Clumsy whisper something to Smurfette and Handy. He didn't pay attention, though. Nothing mattered to him anymore, except that Vanity was safe. However, the fact that he didn’t listen to the whispers left him completely unprepared for what came next.


	5. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that, in earlier chapters, there is a line separating scenes. There is none here because the Archive has done something that makes is impossible or very difficult to do so. The break between scenes happens between “they headed home” and“the next few weeks.” My apologies.

“_Get away from my family!!”_

Gargamel turned around, almost comically surprised, and got hit in the face by a flying Smurf. What had happened was this- Gutsy and Hefty had seen the predicament their friends were in, and, acting impulsively, Hefty had hurled Gutsy at the wizard as hard as he could. As Gargamel had turned, Gutsy had put all of the force he could muster into a punch, which hit the wizard square on the nose. The force knocked him backwards, and he hit the ground hard. It looked like the fall knocked him out, and Vanity went flying.

Humble raced towards Vanity, arms outstretched. “Got you,” he said, diving underneath so Vanity landed on top of him. Once the vain Smurf had gotten up, Humble got to his feet, dusting himself off. “Are you okay?” He asked. Vanity just nodded.

“Vanity?” Humble asked, a little worried.

“...yes, I’m alright,” Vanity replied quietly.

Humble frowned, but didn’t have time to comment further because he was tackled from behind by Gutsy.

“Don’t scare us like that, laddie,” Gutsy scolded him. He withdrew from the hug and playfully punched Humble on the shoulder. “Do ye hear?”

Humble didn’t have time to reply to that either, as his breath was squeezed out of him by Hefty’s hug. “Can’t- b-breathe,” he managed, and the pressure lessened. Hefty stepped aside to let Smurfette, Clumsy and Handy speak. Clumsy tripped, pushing the two into Humble, who was knocked down by this. Laughing, he wriggled out from under the two, only to bump into Vanity. “Oops, sorry,” he began, then stopped. “What’s wrong?”

Vanity wouldn’t look at him. “I said I’m fine,” he replied. “We should go.”

Humble was confused, but didn’t want to argue. Not here.

“He’s right,” Hefty said. “Come on, before Gargamel wakes up.” He led the other six Smurfs out of the hovel, with Gutsy bring up the rear, and they headed into the forest.

Once they were far enough away, Humble pulled Vanity aside. “Vanity, what’s the matter?”

Vanity just looked away. Humble moved around to face him, and tried again. “Is something wrong? You can tell me anything!”

Vanity turned away again, but this time said softly, “I thought you didn’t care.”

Humble frowned. “Vanity, of course I care! I-“

“You said that I meant nothing to you,” Vanity interrupted. “You said it… like you _meant_ it.”

Humble reached out for Vanity, wanting to reassure him, but the Smurf pulled away. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Vanity said, forcing a smile. “You’re okay and that’s what matters, because now I can go back to concentrating on my natural good looks!!” He rejoined the others, and they headed home.

The next few weeks were very uncomfortable- Vanity was avoiding Humble, who was trying his best to apologize. Both of them got more discouraged, and it even got to the point where Vanity stopped looking in his multitude of mirrors.

Eventually Smurfette put her foot down. She marched out of the dining hall, where most of the Smurfs were eating lunch, and confronted Vanity, who, sitting on a bench near the edge of the village, was picking at his own lunch halfheartedly.

“I hope you’re happy,” she said, startling him.

“Oh, it’s just you, Smurfette,” he sighed. “Don’t mind me; it’s such a smurfy day out that I thought I’d eat here.”

“Don’t give me that,” she scolded. “All Humble wants to do is apologize, and cheer you up! He’s been worried sick about you, and all you’re doing is avoiding him! It’s smurfing havoc on his health!!”

Vanity glanced up. “What do you mean?”

Smurfette sat beside him. “He hasn’t been eating, and hardly sleeping, and he never stops stressing about you. Vanity, even if there’s nothing between you two, you need to see him. It’s eating him up inside.”

“There _is_ nothing between us,” Vanity said without thinking. “He’s made that perfectly clear,” he added wistfully.

There was a silence, then Smurfette wrapped him in a hug. “Oh, Vanity,” she told him, “I didn’t know.” Eyes shining, she stood up, pulling Vanity to his feet as well. “You know what would make the both of you feel better?”

“No, what?” Vanity asked.

“_Tell him how you feel,_” Smurfette said with a laugh. “You’ll feel better, trust me!”

Vanity couldn’t keep a smile off of his face. “Oh,” he said playfully, “like you told Hefty?”

Smurfette let out a gasp, and her hands flew to her face. “Vanity! How did you- when did you- who else knows?!”

“Hmmm,” Vanity said, beginning to walk back, “only the entire village.” He let out a laugh at the blonde’s expression. “I’m kidding, I’m _kidding_! Although a lot of us _are_ wondering when you’re going to speak up…”


End file.
